What’s next in the Dan Snyder saga? Florio, Simms weigh in originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The NFL is in a tricky spot.
Commanders owner Dan Snyder is facing allegations of sexual harassment, financial impropriety and other workplace violations, and a report from ESPN last week claimed that he had “dirt” on other owners and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
The league has tapped Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman, to investigate Snyder on the NFL’s behalf.
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Then, at a meeting in New York on Tuesday, the Colts’ Jim Irsay became the first owner to say there is “merit to removing” Snyder as Washington’s owner. The Commanders responded to Irsay’s claim with a statement defending Snyder.
At this point, everything is in a holding period as White gathers information in her investigation. For Snyder to be removed, 24 of the 31 other owners must vote him out – a number that Irsay believes they “potentially” have right now, but won’t vote on until more of White’s investigation is revealed.
So, what’s next in this saga? When could the other owners vote on removing Snyder? NBC Sports analysts Mike Florio and Chris Simms dove into that and more on Wednesday’s edition of “PFT Live.”
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“I would be shocked if this came out during the season,” Simms said of when he expects the investigation to conclude. “I would be shocked if the NFL wants this to be the No. 1 story in the league during the football season. When I think about it, I would think late February, March, something like that is when we start to hear about this.”
Florio had a different perspective, instead arguing that dropping the report during the season could be the best way to lessen the attention it gets.
“Maybe around the playoffs? When there’s even more attention paid to the game,” Florio said of when the details could be revealed. “But they do benefit from having to wrestle with this stuff during the season because, Chris, we’re only going to talk about it today. We’re not talking about it tomorrow – tomorrow we’re going to be talking about the Saints and the Cardinals (who play on Thursday Night Football).”
Florio, who practiced law for 18 years, went into further detail about how someone like White will navigate this investigation. She is paid by the hour, but she is essentially working on the NFL’s timeline. The league, according to Florio, controls when it wants this information to surface.
“She’ll be done whenever her client (the NFL) tells her that he needs the report,” Florio said. “That’s how the world works when you’re working for a client who is paying you a very handsome amount by the hour. You ask, ‘When do you need this by?’ and then you work backward.
“My point is this: the league will have (the results of the investigation) whenever the league wants it.
“She will make her decision and give her report to the NFL exactly when the NFL says they want it, and there will be a strategic effort to pick a day and a month based upon whatever the agenda is of the league.”
Because White is working for the league, Florio explained that the NFL can pick and choose its ideal timeframe.
“If the league wants to create the groundswell, they pick the day, pick the week,” Florio said. “You got Halloween coming up, you got the trade deadline, you got an election, you’ve got Thanksgiving. What day’s the best day, what week’s the best week? When do we drop this bomb, if the goal is to get to 24 (votes to remove Snyder)?
“And we still don’t know what the league office really wants. There’s a chance that the commissioner just wants this all to go away. … It could be that the league office still wants to find a way to engineer an outcome that is status quo.”
